| 1 | Then Job answered, |
| 2 | I have heard many such things; wearisome
and
miserable comforters are you all! |
| 3 | Will your futile words of wind have no end? Or what makes you so bold to answer [me like this]? |
| 4 | I also could speak as you do, if you were in my stead; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you. |
| 5 | [But] I would strengthen
and
encourage you with [the words of] my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would soothe your suffering. |
| 6 | If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my sorrow is not soothed
or
lessened; and if I refrain [from speaking], in what way am I eased? [I hardly know whether to answer you or be silent.] |
| 7 | But now [God] has taken away my strength. You [O Lord] have made desolate all my family
and
associates. |
| 8 | You have laid firm hold on me
and
have shriveled me up, which is a witness against me; and my leanness [and wretched state of body] are further evidence [against me]; [they] testify to my face. |
| 9 | [
[a]My adversary Satan] has torn [me] in his wrath and hated
and
persecuted me; he has gnashed upon me with his teeth; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me. |
| 10 | [The forces of evil] have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me upon the cheek insolently; they massed themselves together
and
conspired unanimously against me. |
| 11 | God has delivered me to the ungodly (to the evil one) and cast me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked (Satan’s host). |
| 12 | I was living at ease, but [Satan] crushed me
and
broke me apart; yes, he seized me by the neck and dashed me in pieces; then he set me up for his target. |
| 13 | [Satan’s] arrows whiz around me. He slashes open my vitals and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground. |
| 14 | [Satan] stabs me, making breach after breach
and
attacking again and again; he runs at me like a giant
and
irresistible warrior. |
| 15 | I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning] and have defiled my horn (my insignia of strength) in the dust. |
| 16 | My face is red
and
swollen with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed], |
| 17 | Although there is no guilt
or
violence in my hands and my prayer is pure. |
| 18 | O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry have no resting-place [where it will cease being heard]. |
| 19 | Even now, behold, my Witness is in heaven, and He who vouches for me is on high. |
| 20 | My friends scorn me, but my eye pours out tears to God. |
| 21 | Oh, that there might be one who would plead for a man with God
and
that he would maintain his right with Him, as a son of man pleads with
or
for his neighbor! |
| 22 | For when a few years are come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return. |
Cross references:
-
Job 16:10 : Ps. 22:13; 35:21.
-
Job 16:19 : Rom. 1:9.
-
Job 16:21 : I Tim. 2:5.
|